(late seventh–early sixth cents.), and Persia (539–333); to the south, Egypt. From 333 to 164 B.C.E. Seleucid and Ptolemaic rulers exercised control over the small colony of Yehud, which finally achieved political autonomy as a result of the Maccabean revolt, but this gave way before the Roman army in 63 B.C.E.21 In summary, human survival depends on an ability to study the complexity of human relationships and to cope with reality as it presents itself in the ordinary circumstances of daily existence.